For many leaders and business owners, success doesn’t always feel the way they expected it would. The numbers may look good on paper, but behind the scenes the business can begin to feel overwhelming and chaotic. That’s exactly where Dawn Baumgartner has built her life’s work—helping leaders find clarity, momentum, and alignment when they feel stuck between growth and burnout. 

Dawn is the founder and trusted advisor behind Cornerstone Coaching & Consulting, a firm dedicated to helping high-performing leaders and business owners move out of what she calls the “messy middle.” It’s the stage where success exists, but so does exhaustion, frustration, and the feeling that the business has started to run you instead of the other way around. 

Dawn understands this stage deeply because she has lived it herself. 

Born in Indianapolis, Dawn spent time living outside Dallas before her family eventually settled in Champaign, Illinois, where she spent much of her formative years. After marrying her husband, James, the couple relocated to St. Louis, originally believing the move would only be temporary. 

“We honestly didn’t expect to stay this long—the beach has been calling my name for decades,” Dawn says with a smile. “But the community we’ve built here kept us, and I’m so glad it did.” 

Before launching her coaching business, Dawn spent years immersed in the real estate industry, serving as both a Real Estate Broker and an operations director. Those roles gave her a firsthand look at the pressure leaders face when they are responsible not only for their own success, but also for the success of the people around them. 

“I’ve been a Real Estate Broker, an Operations Director, a Ministry Leader, a Special Education Teacher, and a business owner—I’ve spent plenty of time in the shoes of the people I serve,” she explains. “I know exactly what it feels like to be in that ‘messy middle’ where you’re successful but spinning your wheels.” 

That experience ultimately led to the creation of Cornerstone Coaching & Consulting. 

“At Cornerstone, we help high-performing leaders and business owners get out of the messy middle and back into momentum,” Dawn says. “We specialize in human capital—which is really just a fancy way of saying we help you get the best out of yourself and your team.” 

Through strategic coaching and consulting, Dawn partners with leaders navigating growth, leadership challenges, and operational shifts. Her work blends practical systems with behavioral science, helping clients understand how they are naturally wired to work so the strategies they implement actually fit their strengths.

“Most coaching feels like it’s adding more to your plate,” Dawn says. “My goal is to clear the plate so you can focus on what actually moves the needle.” 

Cornerstone offers a range of services designed to support leaders at every stage of growth. These include one-on-one coaching, workforce and team solutions, behavioral assessments, and a quarterly workshop called The Momentum Reset. The workshop helps leaders step away from the daily chaos to reassess priorities and create a focused 90-day roadmap for the next stage of growth. 

“We believe that when you align your daily habits with your long-term vision, work stops feeling like a constant fire drill and starts feeling like the purposeful life you actually wanted to build,” Dawn says. 

Central to Dawn’s philosophy is a simple framework she calls AAA: Awareness, Acceptance, and Action. 

“You can’t change what you don’t acknowledge,” she explains. “And you can’t move forward until you accept the truth of where you are without judgment.” 

Another message she often shares with clients is one that resonates deeply with leaders who feel stuck: “When the pain of remaining the same becomes greater than the pain of change, people change.” 

While Dawn serves as the face of Cornerstone, she is quick to emphasize that the company’s success is built on a powerhouse of behind-the-scenes expertise. Her core team spans client coordination, operations, and digital content management, supported by a technical advisor and a virtual CFO team. Crucially, Dawn also works with a Strategic Advisor—a nod to her belief that even the best coaches need a coach of their own to stay at the top of their game. 

Together, the team allows Dawn to focus on what she loves most—working directly with leaders and helping them experience transformational moments in their businesses and lives. 

“The most rewarding part of what I do is watching the lightbulb moment,” Dawn says. “That second when someone moves from feeling overwhelmed and buried by their business to realizing they actually have the power to change their trajectory.” 

Many of Dawn’s clients are already successful professionals who simply know there must be a better, more sustainable way to lead. 

“You’re likely experiencing the messy middle,” she says. “You’re doing well on paper, but behind the scenes you’re overwhelmed and feeling like your business owns you. If you’re ready to stop making excuses, dig into the root of what’s holding you back, and take aligned action, I’m ready to link arms with you.”

That sense of partnership is intentional. Dawn often describes her approach with the phrase #DoLifeTogether, reflecting her belief that leadership—and life—was never meant to be done alone. 

Outside of her work, Dawn’s greatest joy remains her family. She and James have been married for 28 years and share a daughter, Kiersten, along with their Yorkie-poo, Gunny, who Dawn jokes “runs the show.” She openly describes herself as a “recovering workaholic,” a lesson that has shaped the way she now designs both her life and her business. 

“I’ve intentionally built my business to protect what matters most,” she says. “Life rarely looks the way you think it will, but if you’re willing to dig in and work through the messy parts, it always leads to growth.” 

Whether she’s helping leaders navigate business challenges or stepping away for quarterly breaks she calls “beach therapy” or “mountain air,” Dawn’s mission remains the same: helping people build businesses that support their lives instead of consuming them.